Katie Crutchfield of indie project Waxahatchee has been staying busy with Netflix and Instagram like most of us, but she managed to channel some productivity into a new album earlier this year. Contrasting her former turbulent, guitar heavy sounds, Saint Cloud allows for Crutchfield’s voice to really come through.
“I realized I really want to take a sharp turn, and then that was like the earliest sort of seed planted for Saint Cloud,” said Crutchfield. “Just me reacting, more than just the way the album sounds, but how the touring felt.”
That sharp turn meant Cruthfield’s voice would be front and center instead of the heavy instrumentals like the band’s previous work. This is evident in the track Lilacs, where the sentimental tune allows for Cruthfield’s reflective tone to come forth with full emotions from her life.
Crutchfield realized she wanted this voice in her music because her previous tours were unnatural and exhausting. It was through the travel and experience of touring that Crutchfield was really able to find herself. Though she can’t be touring right now, place and travel is still immensely important to the messages to Saint Cloud.
“Place is always a big thing in my songs because I am always trying to tell the story,” said Crutchfield. “I feel like setting is so important, and I think with this record I kind of doubled down on that…I’m a person who just is always moving and traveling, so it was a lot of finding the really small details to make you feel like you’re there and to just sort of tell a more intimate story” said Crutchfield.
The geographical touchstones go back even to the band’s name. Waxahatchee is the creek where Crutchfield wrote all of the band’s first songs. The band’s latest Saint Cloud is out now.
By Madison McNamee
